From Uche Usim, Abuja
At exactly 12.06hrs Tuesday, the Ethiopian Airlines’ Airbus A350 XWB from Addis Ababa touched down at the refurbished Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport after the permanent closure for works on the runway for about seven weeks.
Before, the landing of the first commercial and civil liner at the reopened airport, an official aircraft carrying Nigeria aviation officials had signaled the readiness of the airfield for business once again after landing at some minutes past 11am.
The small jet landed at NAIA runway 04 at about 11:15am today from Kaduna Airport.
Onboard the Police jet was the Minister of State Aviation, Hadi Sirika and other government officials.
The Director General of the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), Capt Usman Mukhtar and his Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) counterpart, Saleh Dunoma certified and declared the airport fit for commercial flights.
As the A350 huge Ethiopian airliner taxied into the terminal, it was welcomed by the traditional ceremonial shower performed by two fire tenders belonging to Aerodrome Rescue and Fire Fighting Service department of FAAN.